Anyway, what do I get them for lunch? Still tired from late night of writing code, having had no breakfast of my own, I am opening and closing refrigerator doors. NOTHING. Well, it's never nothing. Just nothing inspiring. The best I could do was leftover roast, which would be rather boring without gravy and not quite tender enough to eat cold, I thought as I tasted a piece. Oh well! It's the best I can do.
... Six hours later I picked them up from school. I looked into their lunch boxes. Not a scrap! "What happened to your lunch?" I asked. "We ate ALL OF IT!" said Alex proudly. "Mommy, thank you so much for the salad!" added his two-year-old sister.
And here is how it happened:
Salad
- Two 1/4 in slices of roast cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 whole tomato chopped small (about the same as the roast)
- Grated cheddar cheese sprinkled on top till you couldn't see what's under it
Sides
- Salted soy beans in a little ziplock bag
- Apple slices sprinkled with lemon juice, the best apple preservative
I guess, the tomatoes worked out to generate the perfect dressing for the beef roast and cheese - well, you know, it's cheese. :-) I am still working to figure out "good" cheese that tastes like cheddar. But for now, it's the old grocery store variety.
Still, Mommy 1, Lunch Monsters 0.
Sounds like you're doing pretty well amidst lots of pressure :) I know how it feels, I'm usually under a lot of stress and my kids are 4 yrs old and 15 months old. I'm so clueless about what they should eat. My husband and I turned primal a couple of weeks ago (I've been reading about it for the past three months), and we do well most of the time. I cleaned out the house of all grains and packaged foods. The only thing that my husband is still having a hard time getting rid of is the 1 tsp of sugar in his coffee.
ReplyDeleteNow, kids. I just give them what we have and I don't know if that's good enough honestly. I cut them off grains and legumes completely right away. My son sometimes asks for bread with his cheese and he asks for chocolate a lot. If I get some dark chocolate I think he'll be satisfied. Anyway, so both kids have a cup of milk and sometimes yogurt when they wake up. Then eggs and pastrami or eggs and edam cheese or raw white cheese for breakfast. they usually snack on fruit or yogurt or cucumbers. Then a salad for lunch either with tuna or with cheese. They snack on some more fruit or veggies and then meat and veggies for dinner. Occasionally potatoes with dinner. To tell you the truth, I'm so confused whether I'm doing it right or not. Maybe I should do what you're doing and not cut out grains completely? Although I feel they're doing well getting adapted to it, but I also don't want them to be gluten intolerant. *sigh* it's a hard job ours. Do you think there's anything I need to add to their diet? Especially my 1 yr old. I never breastfed, unfortunately. And she had sever constipation from formula so I switched to cow's milk at 11 months. Any advice or thoughts would be really helpful. Thanks for this awesome blog and good luck!
I am so sorry, I was unable to reply sooner. I had a rather life-changing event, lost my pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteBut I sure know how you feel! Here are my suggestions:
1. Ask your pediatrician about gluten intolerance. Will eliminating gluten lead to it? Most doctors will give you a straight-forward answer even if they don't completely endorse your diet.
2. Make your kids feel like they are getting a great deal, even if you are at 90% of what you are trying to achieve. I recently asked my son, "How do you like being a cave baby?" "Love it!" he said. That's more important than 100% compliance.
3. It's ok to take time. Slow down, take a deep breath, do it one step at a time - if you need to. Pick up speed as you gain confidence.
I have gone through so many ups and downs with this, that last one is my mantra!
And congrats on making the big paleo switch!
Interesting that so many "paleo sites" have dairy and soy in their lists of recipes......yours included...
ReplyDelete